A long-running campaign to alter Cardiff’s status as the only British capital without a city museum has received a boost after a new fund was launched to support the project.

Cardiff councillor Nigel Howells, BBC Wales’s Rhodtri Talfan and Richard Tynen, of media organisation the Thomson Foundation, have set up a Development Trust for the scheme in order to gain charitable status for the plans.

Councillor Howells described the establishment of the trust, which is aiming to add to a £1.75 million pledge from the city council, as “a huge step towards the delivery of the museum.”

“There is genuine enthusiasm for a museum about Cardiff,” added Mr Tynen. “The Trust’s challenge now is to convert that goodwill into tangible and sustainable support.”

Ideas for a permanent museum in Cardiff were first mooted almost 15 years ago. Events and exhibitions are currently held at the city’s Old Library site.